Joni Mitchell

[fox69]

"Hana"

"Hana"



Hana steps out of a storm
Into a stranger's warm, but
Hard-up kitchen.
She sees what must be done
So she takes off her coat
Rolls up her sleeves
And starts pitchin' in.

Hana has a special knack
For getting people back on the right track
'Cause she knows
They all matter
So she doesn't argue or flatter
She doesn't fight the slights
She takes it on the chin
Like a champ

Hana says when life's a drag
Don't cave in
Don't put up a white flag
Raise up
A white banner
In this manner-
Straighten your back
Dig in your heals
And get a good grip on your grief!

Hana says, "Don't get me wrong
This is no simple Sunday song
Where God or Jesus comes along
And they save ya."
You've got to be braver than that
You tackle the beast alone
With all its tenacious teeth!
Light the lamp.

 

[fox69]

"Happy Birthday 1975"

"Happy Birthday 1975"


[Man:] "Ready?"
[Sue:] "Alright!"
[Chorus:] "Happy Birthday to Charles, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Charles..."
[Sue:] "Play that weird minor chord..."
[Chorus:] "Happy birthday to you..."
[Sue:] "Play that minor chord!"
[Charles & Chorus:] "How old are you, How old are you"
[Charles:] "Fifty-four, motherfucker"
[Chorus:] ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-
[Sue:] "Fifty-three"
[Charles Singing:] "How old are you?"
[Sue:] "Fifty-three Charles!"
[Charles:] "Fifty-four!"
[Sue:] "Fifty-three"
[Swede:] "How old are you now - tell me honestly..."
[Sue:] "Fifty-three! He was born in 1922"
[Swede:] "1922.."

 

[fox69]

"Harlem In Havana"

"Harlem In Havana"



At the far end of the midway
by the double ferris wheel
There's a band that plays so snakey
You can't help how you feel
Emmie Mae ran away
With a man as dark as night
You can see him, if you go there
Second trumpet to the right

They play "Night Train"
So snakey
Black girls dancing
Long and lanky
Barkers barking
Step right up, folks!
The show is about to begin
It's Harlem in Havana time
Step right in!
Silver spangles
See 'em dangle in the farm boy's eyes
Hootchie kootchie
Auntie Ruthie would've cried
If she knew we were on the inside.

When Emmie Mae ran away
She came back a bottle blonde
God! The gossips had a gourmet feast
Chomping on how she was born
But miracle of miracles
Cuz we were underage
She got us nearly front row seats
To the right side of the stage
See that tall girl?
That's a man
That one, too
Big yellow feather fan
Barkers barking
Step right up, folks!
The show is about to begin
It's Harlem in Havana time
Step right in!
Silver spangles
See 'em dangle in the farm boy's eyes
Hootchie kootchie
Auntie Ruthie would've died
If she knew we were on the inside.

 

[fox69]

"Harry's House-Centerpiece"

"Harry's House-Centerpiece"



Heatwaves on the runway
As the wheels set down
He takes his baggage off the carousel
He takes a taxi into town
Yellow schools of taxi fishes
Jonah in a ticking whale
Caught up at the light in the fishnet windows
Of Bloomingdale's
Watching those high fashion girls
Skinny black models with Raveen curls
Beauty parlor blondes with credit card eyes
Looking for the chic and the fancy
To buy

He opens up his suitcase
In the continental suite
And people twenty stories down
Colored currents in the street
A helicopter lands on the Pan Am roof
Like a dragonfly on a tomb
And business men in button downs
Press into conference rooms
Battalions of paper-minded males
Talking commodities and sales
While at home their paper wives
And paper kids
Paper the walls to keep their gut reactions hid

Yellow checkers for the kitchen
Climbing ivy for the bath
She is lost in House and Gardens
He's caught up in Chief of Staff
He drifts off into the memory
Of the way she looked in school
With her body oiled and shining
At the public swimming pool ...

The more I'm with you, pretty baby
The more I feel my love increase
I'm building all my dreams around you
Our happiness will never cease
'Cause nothing's any good without you
Baby you're my centerpiece

We'll find a house and garden somewhere
Along a country road a piece
A little cottage on the outskirts
Where we can really find release
'Cause nothing's any good without you
Baby you're my centerpiece

...Shining hair and shining skin
Shining as she reeled him in
To tell him like she did today
Just what he could do with Harry's House
And Harry's take home pay

 

[fox69]

"Hejira"

"Hejira"



I'm travelling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
That shell shock love away
There's comfort in melancholy
When there's no need to explain
It's just as natural as the weather
In this moody sky today
In our possessive coupling
So much could not be expressed
So now I'm returning to myself
These things that you and I suppressed
I see something of myself in everyone
Just at this moment of the world
As snow gathers like bolts of lace
Waltzing on a ballroom girl

You know it never has been easy
Whether you do or you do not resign
Whether you travel the breadth of extremities
Or stick to some straighter line
Now here's a man and a woman sitting on a rock
They're either going to thaw out or freeze
Listen...
Strains of Benny Goodman
Coming through the snow and the pinewood trees
I'm porous with travel fever
But you know I'm so glad to be on my own
Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger
Can set up trembling in my bones
I know - no one's going to show me everything
We all come and go unknown
Each so deep and superficial
Between the forceps and the stone

Well I looked at the granite markers
Those tribute to finality - to eternity
And then I looked at myself here
Chicken scratching for my immortality
In the church they light the candles
And the wax rolls down like tears
There's the hope and the hopelessness
I've witnessed thirty years
We're only particles of change I know, I know
Orbiting around the sun
But how can I have that point of view
When I'm always bound and tied to someone
White flags of winter chimneys
Waving truce against the moon
In the mirrors of a modern bank
From the window of a hotel room

I'm travelling in some vehicle
I'm sitting in some cafe
A defector from the petty wars
Until love sucks me back that way

 

[fox69]

"Help Me"

"Help Me"



Help me
I think I'm falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling
I know I'm in trouble again
I'm in trouble
'Cause you're a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet talking ladies man
And you love your lovin'
But not like you love your freedom

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love too fast
It's got me hoping for the future
And worrying about the past
'Cause I've seen some hot, hot blazes
Come down to smoke and ash
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

Didn't it feel good
We were sitting there talking
Or lying there not talking
Didn't it feel good
You dance with the lady
With the hole in her stocking
Didn't it feel good
Didn't it feel good

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love with you
Are you going to let me go there by myself
That's such a lonely thing to do
Both of us flirting around
Flirting and flirting
Hurting too
We love our lovin'
But not like we love our freedom

 

[fox69]

"How Do You Stop"

"How Do You Stop"



Hard bodies
Soft emotions
So fast
So smart
The world is at your feet
But what about your heart?
Fame and fortune can't hold you tight
In the late late hours of the night

How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You think love will wait
So you don't hold on
And then it's gone

You've had success-
Lots of fancy friends
You've tasted the good life
You thought it would never end
One day you're too young
Then you're in your prime
Then you're looking back at the hands of time

How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You think love will wait
So you don't hold on
And then it's gone

How do you stop a runaway train?
How do you stop the driving rain?
How do you stop the ripening corn?
How do you stop a baby being born?

How do you stop
Before it's too late?
You choose and you lose
If you hesitate
How do you stop
Before it's too late?
How do you stop?
You're lost if you hesitate ...
How do you stop
Love from slipping away?
How do you stop
Before it's too late?

 

[fox69]

"I Don't Know Where I Stand"

"I Don't Know Where I Stand"



Funny day, looking for laughter and finding it there
Sunny day, braiding wild flowers and leaves in my hair
Picked up a pencil and wrote "I love you" in my finest hand
Wanted to send it, but I don't know where I stand

Telephone, even the sound of your voice is still new
All alone in California and talking to you
And feeling too foolish and strange to say the words that I had planned
I guess it's too early, 'cause I don't know where I stand

Crickets call, courting their ladies in star-dappled green
Thickets tall, until the morning comes up like a dream
All muted and misty, so drowsy now I'll take what sleep I can
I know that I miss you, but I don't know where I stand
I know that I miss you, but I don't know where I stand

 

[fox69]

"I Had A King"

"I Had A King"



I had a king in a tenement castle
Lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown
He's taken the curtains down
He's swept with the broom of contempt
And the rooms have an empty ring
He's cleaned with the tears
Of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting

I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can

I had a king dressed in drip-dry and paisley
Lately he's taken to saying I'm crazy and blind
He lives in another time
Ladies in gingham still blush
While he sings them of wars and wine
But I in my leather and lace
I can never become that kind

I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can

I had a king in a salt-rusted carriage
Who carried me off to his country for marriage too soon
Beware of the power of moons
There's no one to blame
No there's no one to name as a traitor here
The king's on the road
And the queen's in the grove till the end of the year

I can't go back there anymore
You know my keys won't fit the door
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
They never can they never can

 

[fox69]

"I Think I Understand"

"I Think I Understand"



Daylight falls upon the path, the forest falls behind
Today I am not prey to dark uncertainty
The shadow trembles in its wrath, I've robbed its blackness blind
And tasted sunlight as my fear came clear to me

I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand

Now the way leads to the hills, above the steeple's chime
Below me sleepy rooftops round the harbor
It's there I'll take my thirsty fill of friendship over wine
Forgetting fear but never disregarding her

Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones and sinking sand

Sometimes voices in the night will call me back again
Back along the pathway of a troubled mind
When forests rise to block the light that keeps a traveler sane
I'll challenge them with flashes from a brighter time

Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand